2018 Festival Dal tramonto all’Appia – film showing of the restored version of Maciste alpino.

The Appia Antica, at sunset in the quiet of the Roman countryside, is the setting for the showing of the restored version (2014) of Luigi Maggi and Luigi Roberto Borgnetto’s Maciste alpino (1916), supervised by the National Museum of Cinema and the Venice Biennale and carried out at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

The film will be shown on Monday, 9 July, 9.00 pm, at the Appia Antica Archeological Park, Villa dei Quintili, on the occasion of the Festival Dal tramonto all’Appia – Edizione 2018.

The reconstruction and digital restoration of the original was supervised by the Venice Biennale in collaboration with the National Museum of Cinema, Turin, and carried out at the Laboratorio L’Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna.

Maciste alpino is arguably the best WWI propaganda film made in Italy, a place it garnered not only through the main character’s winning performance. The film’s ability to tell its story effectively and treat even the most dramatic subjects lightly remains unique among films of its kind: images of deportation of civilians, trench life, violence toward women, and the horrors of war lay bare the cathartic function of cinema.